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This photograph taken on February 7, 2018, shows visitors looking at Mahindra's Atom car, a new urban mobility concept electric vehicle, during the 'Auto-Expo 2018' at the India Expo Mart in Greater Noida. — AFP

Electric cars bask in the limelight at India's flagship auto show, where an ambitious plan to phase out polluting clunkers has manufacturers racing to lure millions of new drivers to their green vehicles.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government wants all new cars on India's roads to be electric by 2030 to combat smog that routinely eclipses dangerous levels in the nation of 1.25 billion.

Some auto giants at the motor show in New Delhi have expressed reservations about the aggressive roll out when so little of India is equipped to charge electric cars and most drivers cannot afford the hefty price tags.

But few are willing to risk a golden opportunity in the world's fifth-largest car market, where owning a four-wheeler is a status symbol.

“We are a strong believer in electric, and with a leap of faith, we started investing even before the government announcement,” said Mahesh Babu, CEO of Mahindra Electric, currently the only company producing electric vehicles in India.

The Indian auto firm is a “pioneer in e-mobility”, investing $75 million in its electric fleet since 2010 with another $90 million earmarked as production ramps up in the next three years, Babu said.

Banking on big sales, Maruti has poured $180 million into a new plant to construct lithium-ion batteries in partnership with Japan's Denso and Toshiba.

Tata Motors, part of the sprawling tea-to-steel conglomerate, in September won a contract to supply 10,000 electric cars for the government.

Hesitation

The cars, priced at nearly $15,500, are the first attempt by the government to replace its half-a-million fleet of diesel and petrol guzzlers with electric vehicles.

Tata Motors is also experimenting with electric buses and is looking to revamp its popular small Nano model as a battery-powered vehicle.

Car ownership is steadily rising in Asia's third-largest economy, where four million new cars were sold in 2016. PriceWaterhouseCoopers expects annual sales to grow to nearly seven million by 2022.

But the lion's share still run on petrol and diesel, worsening the already atrocious air quality in a country that ranks among the world's most polluted.

A government report in May said the mobility of passengers through shared and electric vehicles can cut India's energy demand by 64 per cent and carbon emissions by 37 per cent in 2030.

India is not alone in wanting all-electric cars, Britain and France hope to achieve this by 2040, but New Delhi wants to go faster than others.

But the transition has been slow, and some global auto giants are hesitant to take the plunge in India.

Mercedes has described the 2030 deadline as rushed, while Elon Musk postponed the India launch of his Tesla Model 3.

The California-based company is slated to open a factory in China, India's regional rival where the electric car market is booming.

'Crystal ball gazing'

At the auto show in New Delhi, car makers pointed out that India lacked the charging points needed to refuel depleted batteries, a major roadblock to taking electric cars nationwide.

“Who will develop this, who will fund this? All this is unclear at the moment. It is absolutely crystal ball gazing,” said Manohar Bhat from South Korean giant Kia Motors, which is expected to soon unveil an electric vehicle exclusively for the Indian market.

Other vendors at the car fair said securing enough lithium to build batteries for millions of electric vehicles would be challenging and costly.

Mahesh Bendre, an auto industry analyst with Karvi Stock Broking, said electric cars would only succeed in India if the price was right.

“The government can push it to some extent but in the end, it will boil down to making the right product available to the consumers at the right cost,” he told AFP.

Fully electric cars are expected to make up 12 per cent of the global market in 2025, analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch forecast last year. But that share is expected to reach one third by 2030 and 90 per cent midway through the century.

Bhat, of Kia, said different markets would go electric when the time was right.

Comments (27) Closed

And where will they get the electricity to charge all the electric cars once they become all electric?

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Aurora

Feb 09, 2018 06:21pm

When nearly 16000 villages can be provided electricity in last 3 .5 years from the over all remaining 18000 since independence and majority getting free connections to start with , switching to electric mode of transport & availability of battery charging stations will also speeded up specially to reduce the oil import bill .
Few states have already ordered electric buses for big cities.

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Imtiaz Ali Khan

Feb 09, 2018 06:33pm

A good start with a very long road ahead....... Good luck Indo family :)

IndoPak Blood Brothers 4 Life!

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Assamese

Feb 09, 2018 07:43pm

@Vijay B. Good question. How will that electricitu generated...from coal?

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Veer

Feb 09, 2018 08:07pm

Pakistan should also try to do the same

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Ashish Kumar

Feb 09, 2018 08:53pm

Rechargeable batteries.

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Vijay B.

Feb 09, 2018 09:32pm

@Assamese Point well taken, that was my concern too. But solar is now cheaper than coal, and we have plenty of sun. Moreover solar plants can be set here there everywhere near where they are needed/used, so no big transmission costs or transmission losses or transmission towers, like it would be from hydro or coal/gas power plants. Not much water needed except for washing the panels off and on. The problem would be how do you store it. Lithium batteries are not cheap.Without that what about at night?

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Assamese Guy

Feb 10, 2018 12:07am

@Vijay B. Solar during day time and running hydro plants more after sunset will be good. Natural Gas and Biomass can form basis for a 24 hr minimum base load. Nuclear stations are good for base loads provided we have the fuel.

Of course doing away completely with coal will need a good stockpile of Lithium or other batteries. Tesla has already shown it in Australia.

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FAIRTALK

Feb 10, 2018 12:19am

Irreparable damage has already been done due to the extensive usage of cheap unsafe gasoline and many other factors and failure to implement environmental regulatory laws.

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Faizal

Feb 10, 2018 04:45am

Pakistan has a lot of coal,it should announce it's first coal powered car by 2020 .China can build the car and sell them in Pakistan.

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kerala

Feb 10, 2018 09:04am

@Assamese Solar power

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ad

Feb 10, 2018 09:32am

@Vijay B. The problem would be how do you store it. Lithium batteries are not cheap.Without that what about at night?

Pump up water to a high overhead tank with extra energy during the day. Use falling water to generate electricity at night.

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Azam

Feb 10, 2018 09:45am

It's a good initiative. But for all electric 2030 deadline is very aggressive.

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Vivek Wani

Feb 10, 2018 10:49am

@Imtiaz Ali Khan
A good start with a very long road ahead....... Good luck Indo family :)
IndoPak Blood Brothers 4 Life!.

cut down the Bihar , orissa and Madhya Pradesh electricity by 20 to 40% and transfer to southern and northern state...

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Alba

Feb 10, 2018 11:10pm

The Chinese in Beijing have already done that on a large scale.

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Vijay B.

Feb 11, 2018 03:13am

@ad Yes, pumping water back up during low load periods and re-using it at peal loads is an age old method of balancing power on hydro-electric dams. To me, switching to compressed air or Nitrogen would be a better alternative with not having to build any towers (the storage tanks would be on ground level) or having to have water available( I am aware it would be recirculated)

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Neo

Feb 11, 2018 04:43pm

Welcome announcement. However, 2030 is an unrealistic target. Even developed countries would find it difficult to meet this deadline.

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Counterpoint

Feb 11, 2018 07:32pm

@Neo The biggest concern is the price of the batteries. Bit technology changes the game. Once upon a time, the solar panels were prohibitively expensive. Now it's cheapest way of producing power when you compare coal, nuke, hydro sources. Mobile phone were bulky & expensive. Now it's cheap, powerful, more features.
Battery technology will soon become more efficient, cheap and the adoption will be really quick.

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FAIRVIEW

Feb 11, 2018 08:07pm

@Assamese Developing countries has completely abandoned the technology of using Coal Fired Power Stations for generating electricity because of its very serious harmful effects on human health. This is a serious HEALTH HAZARD and should never be used.

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Alok Sahay, Nagpur

Feb 11, 2018 08:28pm

@Vijay B. SOLAR

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Neo

Feb 11, 2018 09:04pm

@Counterpoint Its still an unrealistic target. Its not just about the cost of the battery. The electric cars sold in world market are STILL more expensive than conventional cars. There still isn't enough recharge facilities in developed countries. Then consider the population. Whoever builds these cars would want to make a substantial profit.

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ANURAG Gautam

Feb 11, 2018 09:26pm

I am in material handling company means both electric and diesel powered vehicles, customer are shifting to electric than diesel, modi government has aggressively introduced bs4 standard in 2017 and demanding bs6(equivalent to euro5 grade) in 2020 has forced auto mobile industry to better shift to electric than to invest heavily in getting bs6 standards,modi is on right track I am hoping that he succeeded in his mission.
Regards
Anurag Gautam

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ABCD

Feb 12, 2018 11:02am

In future, there will be no transmission line. Only you have to purchase a small device with a simcard. You can rechagre it on line anywhere just like we recharge our mobiles. Once recharged, it will automatically generate desired electricity in your device and your job is done. It is expected brfore 2030.